A former earth science teacher, who taught in New York’s Webster Central School District, hosted over 100 of his former students at his home in suburban Rochester, New York, during Monday’s historic solar eclipse, fulfilling a promise he made 46 years ago.
Patrick Moriarty, 68, was 22 in 1978 when he first promised his students they would reunite for the 2024 total solar eclipse, according to WHAM-TV.
For the next 16 years, he reportedly invited every earth science class he taught in the New York school district for the reunion through a Facebook page he had created for the occasion.
It turns out in Rochester we didn’t need the glasses, there was no traffic and clouds blocked the solar eclipse view. Oh well, I still had the best eclipse assignment. Retired Webster science teacher Pat Moriarty had
an eclipse reunion with students he taught nearly 50 yrs ago. pic.twitter.com/O3cHuZSIUe— Marsha Augustin (@MarshaA_TV) April 9, 2024
“It’s not about the eclipse. It’s about you guys being here to share this time with my family, me and each other,” Moriarty reportedly said.
As the moon traveled between the sun and Earth, Moriarty’s promise was finally kept after it was made decades ago.
“Definitely the longest homework assignment in the history of any teacher,” Kevin Thompson, who was a student in Moriarty’s class in 1982, said.
Thompson and Chuck O’Brien, who was in the same class as him, said they were grateful their former teacher kept his promise to reunite.
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